Transport merchandise container

ABSTRACT

Transport merchandise container end framing, door and associated structure facilitating tight door closing and locking and resisting racking of the container framing by forces to which the container is subjected while being transported or, if a separable structure, when it is lifted onto or off of a barge, truck, railway car or other carrier.

United States Patent [1 1 Hackney, Jr. et a1.

[4 1 May 28, 1974 TRANSPORT MERCHANDISE CONTAINER Inventors: Thomas P.Hackney, .Jr.; George B. Kirwan, both of Huntington, W. Va.

Assignee: Hennessy Products Incorporated,

Chambersburg, Pa.

Filed: Jan. 3, 1972 Appl. No.: 214,690

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3/1913 Kurzwelly 292/54 1,720,7267/1929 Geiger 292/161 1,828,912 10/1931 Tobin 1 292/259 1,900,254 3/1933Nyslrom 292/218 3,151,898 10/1964 Olander 292]] 3,296,694 1/1967DeMastry 292/341.l2 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 28,521 5/1907 GreatBritain 292/259 Primary Examiner-Robert L. Wolfe Attorney, Agent, orFirm-Bedell and Burgess [5 7 ABSTRACT Transport merchandise containerend framing, door and associated structure facilitating tight doorclosing and locking and resisting racking of the container framing byforces to which the container is subjected while being transported or,if a separable structure, when it is lifted onto or off of a barge,truck, railway car or other carrier.

5 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY28 I974 SHEET 2 BF 2 FlG lO FIG8FIG. l4

1 TRANSPORT MERCHANDISE CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION and duringtransportation, such a container is subjected to racking forcestendingto incline the container upright framing members from th'e verticaltransversely of.

the container and to loosen locks and fastenings between the doors andthe container body.

SUMMARY OF "THE INVENTION The main objects'ofthe invention are totightly secure the doors, whenclosed, to the container body and toutilize the doors to provide increasedresistance to racking forces.

IN THEIJRAWINGS FIG. I is an elevation'ofthe rear end of a merchandisecontainermou'nted-on or forming the body of a highway trailer and havinga pair of'doors hinged along respective upright corner posts of the bodyand extending from their hinges toward each other. Each door mountsa'pair of upright locking bars pivoted on the door midway of'the top andbottom thereof and normally engaging keepers onthe body sill and lintelor header.

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a portion of an actuating lever and linkagefor the locking bars as shown in FIG. I

l but drawn to a larger scale.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal-section on line 33 of FIG. 2.

'FIG. 4 is a view similarto FIG. 2 but showing the parts inreleasedposition.

FIG. 5 is a horizontalsectionon line 55 of FIG. 4 I

FIG. 6 is a vertical section on line 6-'-6 of FIG. 2 but on a largerscale.

FIG. 7 is a front view of one of the locking bars shown in FIG. I but ona larger scale.

FIGS. 8 and'9 are horizontal sections on lines 8-8 and'9-9 respectivelyof FIG. 7 but on a larger scale.

FIG. 10 is a verticalsection on line'l0-l0 of FIG.

7 but on a larger scale.

FIG. 11 is a horizontal section on line 11-11 of FIG. 10.

and 13-13 respectively of FIG." 8. v FIG. 14 'is a view of the open endof one of the keepers, looking in the direction of the arrowZ in FIGS.7,

FIGS. 12 and 13 are verticalsections on lines 12-l2 DESCRIPTION OF THEPREFERRED EMBODIMENT The container includes a transverse sill l, uprightcorner posts or door jambs 2, a header or lintel 3 and measuring thedistancefrom sill to lintel and adding 6 inches for overlap.

A pair of short face plates 8, 9 (FIGS. 7, 10) are applied to oppositefaces ,of each door behind the central portion of each locking bar andare spaced apart by a bushing '10 which journals a sleeve 1] welded tocap 7 (FIG. 10). A screw S is threaded into sleeve 11 and secures thelocking bar to the door but the bar is free to pivot about sleeve 11.

The pair of locking bars B on one door swing in the opposite directionto the pair of locking bars on the other door, as indicated by arrows Xand Y (FIG. I).

Keepers 15 on the sill and lintel receivethe ends of the locking barswhen the latter are swung to vertical position. Each keeper 15 forms apocket (FIGS. 7, 12) which opens toward a locking bar end and has ahorizontal bottom wall 16. A shoe 17 (FIGS. 8, l2, l3) fits in the outerend of each bar section 6 and has upstanding lugs 18 welded to the bar.As the locking bar moves to vertical position, a tapered toe 19 on theshoe enters a slot T in the keeper upright wall and effectively thruststhe bar and door laterally toward the sill, or lintel, respectively.This forms a pick-up feature facili' tating the tight .closing of thedoor because the thrust of the bar against the door begins as soon asthe end of the toe enters the keeper slot although the door may then bean inch or more away from the fully closed position assumed when the baris vertical. As the bar shoes enter the keepers, its ends slide over thehorizontal walls of the keepers and the locking bars form struts betweenthe sill and lintel intermediate the corner posts and resist racking ofthe frame and weakening of the hinge mountings of the door. Preferably aseparate cup-like boot 18a of compressible nylon or similar materialfitsover each bar end portion for tight pressure between the opposingvertical surfaces of the bar and keeper.

Each door mounts a channel section cam lever 19a (FIGS. 2-6) pivoted byan upright pin 21 at one end to a bracket 20 on the door. A channelsection link 22 is pivoted at one end to each cam lever 19a by anupright pin 25 positioned a short distance from pin 21. An upright pin24 is received in elongated slots 25 near the other end of the flangesof link 22 and is mounted in a bracket 26 on one of each pair of lockingbars. Each cam lever and link may be secured against accidental orunauthorized release by a padlock P with its bow inserted throughapertures in brackets 28, 29 on the door and lever respectively (FIG. 6)or the usual car seal may be inserted through the bracket apertures.

When the right hand lever 19a is swung about its pivot 23 in asemicircle from its FIGS. 1, 2 position to its FIGS. 4, 5 position, ittilts the pair of connected locking bars from their solid-line verticalpositions toward the dotted-line positions and disengages the bar shoesfrom the keepers. 7

When the doors are closed and the locking bars are in upright position,the doors themselves constitute rectangular immovable bulkheads acrossthe rear of the container body with a plurality of steel bars securelylocked to the sill and lintel. Either door may be released and openedindependently of the other door.

The opposing elements on the bars and framing, the lever-linkarrangement, the shoe with projecting toe, and the nylon boot, allcontribute to the rigidity of the structure.

Crossbars or rungs connect each pair of the locking bars. Each rungcomprises a tubular member 30 and end members 31 (FIG. 7) pivotallyconnected to the locking bars. During initial assembly of the rungs andbars the members may telescope. After their assembly with the lockingbars determines the over-all length of a rung, members 30 and 31 arewelded to each other, thus assuring correct pivotal swinging of eachpair of bars as a unit. Then the locking bars are swung to verticalposition and keepers are applied to the bar ends and spot welded to thesill and lintel. Then the bars are swung away from the keepers and thelatter are finish welded to the sill and lintel, as indicated at W inFIG. 8. This avoids heat injury to the nylon boots. These features avoidthe necessity of cutting each bar to a length corresponding to the exactdistance between the horizontal wall of an upper keeper and the oppositehorizontal wall of the corresponding lower keeper before the bars areapplied to the door.

One or more of the features described may be varied or omitted withoutdeparting from the combination of the swinging bars engaging the linteland sill and securing the separate doors individually and resistingracking forces on the end framing, and the final forcing of the doorsinto closed position as effected by the lever and link members, and theexclusive use of the structures described in the accompanying claims iscontemplated.

We claim: 1. A transport merchandise container comprising framingincluding a transverse sill, upright corner posts spaced aparttransversely of the container and a transverse lintel, said sill andlintel having upwardly and downwardly facing elements respectively, adoor hinged to one of said posts, a pair of elongated bars spaced aparttransversely of the width of the door journaled intermediate their endson said door to pivot parallel therewith to a vertical position or to aninclined position, means connecting said bars to maintain them inparallelism with each other, and means for holding said bars in suchvertical position, each bar having downwardly and upwardly facing endsurfaces spaced apart lengthwise of the bar and tightly abutting saidsill and lintel elements when the door is closed and the bars are inupright position and thereby brace said framing vertically againstracking distortion.

2. A transport merchandise container as described in claim 1 in whichthe end surfaces on the bars converge toward the respective opposingelements of the sill and lintel as the bars move toward verticalposition and wedge the bars lengthwise between the sill and lintel.

3. A transport merchandise container according to claim 1 wherein eachsaid bar comprises an elongated middle portion and separate endelements, said end elements being in lapped relation with said middleportion lengthwise thereof, and affixed in position lengthwise of saidbars.

4. A transport merchandise container as described in claim 1 whichincludes pocket-like keepers on the sill and lintel receiving the endportions of the locking bars and holding the doors against swingingabout their hinges on the framing when the bars are upright.

5. In a transport merchandise container according to claim 4, ahorizontal lever fulcrumed on the door, and a horizontal link pivotallyconnected at one end to said lever nearits fulcrum and pivotallyconnected at its other end to one of said elongated bars, said lever andlink being operable manually to force said locking bar into and out ofengagement with said keepers at the end of door-closing movement and atthe beginning of door-opening movement respectively.

1. A transport merchandise container comprising framing including atransverse sill, upright corner posts spaced apart transversely of thecontainer and a transverse lintel, said sill and lintel having upwardlyand downwardly facing elements respectively, a door hinged to one ofsaid posts, a pair of elongated bars spaced apart transversely of thewidth of the door journaled intermediate their ends on said door topivot parallel therewith to a vertical position or to an inclinedposition, means connecting said bars to maintain them in parallelismwith each other, and means for holding said bars in such verticalposition, each bar having downwardly and upwardly facing end surfacesspaced apart lengthwise of the bar and tightly abutting said sill andlintel elements when the door is closed and the bars are in uprightposition and thereby brace said framing vertically against rackingdistortion.
 2. A transport merchandise container as described in claim 1in which the end surfaces on the bars converge toward the respectiveopposing elements of the sill and lintel as the bars move towardvertical position and wedge the bars lengthwise between the sill andlintel.
 3. A transport merchandise container according to claim 1wherein each said bar comprises an elongated middle portion and separateend elements, said end elements being in lapped relation with saidmiddle portion lengthwise thereof, and affixed in position lengthwise ofsaid bars.
 4. A transport merchandise container as described in claim 1which includes pocket-like keepers on the sill and lintel receiving theend portions of the locking bars and holding the doors against swingingabout their hinges on the framing when the bars are upright.
 5. In atransport merchandise container according to claim 4, a horizontal leverfulcrumed on the door, and a horizontal link pivotally connected at oneend to said lever near its fulcrum and pivotally connected at its otherend to one of said elongated bars, said lever and link being operablemanually to force said locking bar into and out of engagement with saidkeepers at the end of door-closing movement and at the beginning ofdoor-opening movement respectively.